The Second World War may have been over but a few years on and
the country was still in the grip of austerity, there was a
housing shortage and drabness seemed to surround people who
could only buy utility clothes and furnishings. Clement Attlee’s
Labour government agreed to do something which would act as a
’tonic to the nation’. This would come in the form of an
exhibition which would celebrate all that was great and good
about Britain. The event would open for business exactly 100
years after the Great Exhibition of 1851. It was the brainchild
of Gerald Barry and the Labour Party’s Deputy Leader Herbert
Morrison. Barry declared: ‘1951 should be a year of fun, fantasy
and colour.’

While
events would take place all around the country the
main focus of the Festival of Britain would be on
two sites in London. On the South Bank, between
Westminster and Waterloo bridges, and three miles
upstream at Battersea. The former would house the
serious side of the festival and would be divided
into two areas - The Land and The People. Battersea
was to be home to the more frivolous side of the
celebration and include a large amusement park among
its attractions. Designed along the lines of
Copenhagen’s famous Tivoli Gardens it also harked
back to the English pleasure gardens of the 17th
century and featured a Riverside Theatre, Dance
Pavilion, Punch and Judy theatre, bars and cafes.

Even before work started on the Battersea site there
was opposition from Lord Beaverbrook’s press and
Conservative MPs who believed that spending money on
Pleasure Gardens was ludicrous given all the other
places and organisations crying out for financial
aid at that moment in history. In the years leading
up to 1951 the project became something of a
political football. The London Evening Standard
printed a leader declaring ‘Spend the money on St
Thomas’ Hospital’ which had been bombed. Following
initial criticism the Festival Gardens project was
shelved for a year but then given the green light.
However, it only had half of the budget that had
been originally allocated. This resulted in many of
the attractions at Battersea being sponsored.

The
Festival Committee realised that in order to
guarantee that the crowds would visit Battersea they
needed to have some spectacular new fairground
attractions. With little investment being made by
British showmen post-war the committee decided to
look across the Atlantic for inspiration. In order
to buy the new American amusements in 1950 the
committee applied to the Treasury for, and
astonishingly received, £30,000. It was decided that
they would take a number of British showmen on the
trip to the States. If the showmen found attractions
they were interested in the Committee would purchase
them and then the showmen would be allowed to buy
them at cost plus transport costs, avoiding import
duties and purchase taxes. Unsurprisingly they
wanted the trip to be kept ’very hush hush’.

But
the press, Conservative Mps and other political
groups found out about the planned trip. Questions
were raised in Parliament, the Daily Mail ran
headlines asking why the Government could spend
thousands of dollars on a new roundabout and the
Nottingham Housewives Association sent a telegram to
the Ministry of Food demanding to know why if
dollars weren’t available to buy eggs and other food
why were they available to be spent on fairground
rides. Despite all of this the venture went ahead
and no less than seven new rides were to make their
debut by the end of the Festival Gardens first year
of operation. Despite such opposition The World’s
Fair carried regular updates on the proposed event
and even carried lists of tenants for the amusement
park.